11,000 Lose Power As Storm Sweeps In

June 02, 1999

NORTH/WEST SUBURBS — A storm system that swept through the Chicago area Tuesday night left thousands of people temporarily without power, and lightning damaged at least one home.

About 9:30 p.m., Commonwealth Edison reported that 8,000 homes were without power in the northern suburbs, and an additional 3,000 had no power in the western suburbs, according to Keith Bromery, a spokesman for the utility.

"We held over additional crews for this weather, and we called in more," Bromery said. The outages were not widespread, he said, and crews had things "well in hand."

In west suburban Lyons, lightning struck a house Tuesday evening, according to the Lyons Police Department.

A police dispatcher said nobody was injured. He declined to provide an exact location or additional details.

The National Weather Service reported wind speeds of 60 to 80 m.p.h. as the storm system moved into Illinois from the west.